JPS6247371A - Gas purifier and oxygen enriched gas feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Application The present invention relates to a gas purifier having a specific structure and an oxygen-enriched gas supply device incorporating the gas purifier. More specifically, it is a device for supplying oxygen-enriched gas to the nasal cavity or mouth of a user such as a patient for medical or other purposes to improve or strengthen breathing, The present invention provides an oxygen-enriched gas supply device equipped with a gas purifier for purifying oxygen-enriched gas, and the gas purifier.

<Prior art> Oxygen therapy, which supplies oxygen from oxygen cylinders or liquid oxygen, has traditionally been used for patients with respiratory diseases, and recently oxygen-enriched air obtained by concentrating oxygen in the air has been used With the development of oxygen therapy, this treatment has become increasingly popular.

In these oxygen therapies, when gases such as oxygen or oxygen-enriched air are supplied to the patient's nasal cavity, the gas is usually supplied in a humidified state close to the saturated water vapor pressure to prevent the patient's nasal cavity from drying out. Efforts have been made to do so. That is, in the case of oxygen from an oxygen gas cylinder or liquid oxygen, the humidity is too low as it is, so it is supplied to the patient after being humidified, for example, by passing through a bubble type humidifier. In addition, adsorption type oxygen enrichers and molded oxygen enrichers are used to obtain oxygen-enriched air, but even in the case of adsorption type oxygen enrichers, the oxygen-enriched air that is usually obtained contains almost no moisture. The patient is provided with enriched air that is humidified using a humidifier. In the case of a molded oxygen enricher, it is often unnecessary to provide a humidifier because water is usually concentrated in the membrane.

In this way, gases such as oxygen or oxygen-enriched air whose humidity has been increased using a humidifier or membrane are passed through tubes made of vinyl chloride, etc.
Nasal cannula in cavity and mouth.

The gas is supplied through a mask, etc., but as it passes through the tube, it cools and condenses, forming water droplets that reach the patient's nasal cavity, causing discomfort to the patient and causing bacteria to grow. There were hygienic issues such as easy cleaning.

Also, when gas is passed through the tube as mentioned above,
When passing through the oxygen enricher in front of the tube, for example, a small amount of plasticizer contained in the vinyl chloride that makes up the tube may evaporate and be mixed into the gas, which may be harmful to the patient. There was a drawback that it was perceived as a strange odor and caused discomfort.

<Purpose of the Invention> The present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems, and in particular, eliminates water droplets contained in gases such as oxygen and oxygen-enriched air before they enter the patient's nasal cavity, which causes odor. It is an object of the present invention to provide an oxygen-enriched gas supply device that can remove substances and supply as normal a gas as possible to a patient, and a gas purifier that can be used therein.

<Structure of the Invention> As a result of intensive research to achieve the above object, we have provided a gas purifier that purifies oxygen-enriched gas as close to the user as possible when supplying the gas to the cavity of a patient, etc. The inventors have discovered that this is effective and have arrived at the present invention.

That is, the present invention provides a gas purifier having a filter and an adsorbent layer arranged in series in a container equipped with a gas inlet and an outlet; An oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus comprising supply means for supplying enriched gas and conduit means for guiding the oxygen-enriched gas from the generation means to the supply means, the conduit having a filter in the middle thereof. The present invention provides an oxygen-enriched gas supply device characterized by having a gas purification means equipped with an adsorbent and/or an adsorbent.

The present invention will be explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings. In a preferred embodiment of the oxygen-enriched gas supply device according to the present invention, as schematically illustrated in FIG. Immediately before passing through the conduit means 5 and then through the gas purification means 7 containing an adsorbent 9 and a filter 11, impurities such as water droplets and odor sources contained in the enriched gas are removed. After passing through the conduit means, the purified oxygen-enriched gas is delivered to the user's cavity 1 from the supply means 13.
5.

The oxygen-enriched gas supply device of the present invention uses a supply means that makes the enriched gas available at a location away from an oxygen cylinder or the like that is the enriched gas generation means or an oxygen enricher housing the oxygen enrichment means. In particular, it is characterized by having a gas purification means containing a filter and/or an adsorbent between the conduit means from the oxygen enricher, oxygen cylinder, etc. to the supply means.

It is preferable that such a filter has the function of preventing the passage of water droplets generated by the previous conduit means or oxygen-enriched gas generation means.
It is desirable to use the following materials, more preferably 0.7 μm or less. The filter may be of any type, including cellulose, glass fiber, polyester, etc., but it is preferable to use one that retains water repellency at least on its upstream surface in order to prevent water droplets from passing through. In order to maintain water repellency, hydrophobic materials such as fluorine resins such as tetrafluoroethylene resin, silicone resins, and polyolefin resins can be used as filter materials. In particular, fluorine resins have a water repellent effect. It has excellent moldability and moldability. Further, as a water-repellent filter, a filter made of a non-water-repellent material and subjected to water-repellent treatment on one or both sides can also be used. The water repellent used for the water repellent treatment (4) may be of any kind, for example, 1 water repellent such as fluorine-based or silicone-based resin, and treated by impregnation, spraying, coating, or vapor deposition. Filters can be used.

The filter can also be used as a sterilization filter, for example to prevent bacteria from entering from the downstream side of the conduit means and entering the upstream side of the filter and multiplying. The system is 0.
The thickness is preferably 5μ or less, more certainly 0.3μ or less.

The shape of the filter may be any shape, but it is preferable that the pressure loss as a whole is small when the oxygen-enriched gas passes through it. More specifically, for example, when the flow rate of the oxygen-enriched gas is 61/n1in, the pressure loss at a portion of the filter is 20 mHO or less, more preferably 16+1! It is desirable that it be less than or equal to IIIH(].

Further, as the adsorbent used in the gas purifier of the present invention, for example, when a vinyl chloride tube is used as the conduit means 5, phthalate esters etc. that are mixed into the oxygen-enriched gas flowing inside the tube are used. Any material may be used as long as it can adsorb sources of off-odor or, in some cases, off-odor sources generated in the oxygen enricher. Specific examples include zeolites such as molecular sieve 5A, and activated carbon.

Examples include florisil, among which activated carbon and zeolite are preferred.

As the gas purification means provided in the conduit means 5 of the oxygen-enriched gas supply device of the present invention, it is most preferable to use both a filter and an adsorbent as illustrated in FIG.
In some cases, the gas purifying means may include only either an adsorbent or a filter. Furthermore, in the case of a gas purification means that uses both a filter and an adsorbent, each may be stored in separate containers, but for example, as shown in FIG. It is preferable to use a device that stores both of the above because it can make the entire device smaller and lighter. In addition, 11 in Figure 2
is a stopper made of a fiber aggregate or the like to confine the filled adsorbent. In addition, it is preferable to arrange the filter and adsorbent in series; using the filter on the downstream side will prevent bacteria from entering from the downstream side, and will also prevent solid objects such as adsorbent fragments from downstream. This is preferable because it does not leak to the sides. However, if there is a strong odor, it is desirable to use a filter disposed on the upstream side to prevent the adsorbent from being inactivated by water droplets and reducing its adsorption capacity. Also, if pressure loss can be reduced, it is better to place filters before and after the adsorbent. Further, as a position where the gas purification means is provided, the conduit means 5
The effect is more likely to be exerted on the downstream side. In particular, it is desirable to provide the gas purification means immediately before the oxygen-enriched gas supply means 13, but if it is too close, it will cause inconvenience to the person using the supply means. It is desirable to have one that can be hung over the user's shoulder or fixed to the chest, etc. Incidentally, the enrichment device may be one in which the internal conduit means is equipped with an adsorbent or a sterilization filter.

Specific examples of the oxygen-enriched gas generation means in the oxygen-enriched gas supply device of the present invention include oxygen enrichers that obtain oxygen-enriched air from air, such as membrane-type oxygen enrichers and adsorption-type oxygen enrichers. ,
1. Means for obtaining oxygen gas from oxygen cylinders and liquid oxygen, etc.
Examples include those using seeds or a combination of them. As described above, the term "oxygen-enriched gas" as used in the present invention means oxygen-enriched air or oxygen gas.

In addition, a membrane-type oxygen enricher is a device that obtains oxygen-enriched air by passing air through an oxygen-selective permeable membrane, and usually requires a humidifier if moisture is concentrated along with oxygen. On the contrary, the concentrated water condenses into water droplets within the vessel, so it is desirable to provide a water separation means. Since the oxygen-enriched air thus obtained contains moisture with a relative humidity of about 70% or more, it is likely to be cooled in the conduit means extended from the enricher and water droplets will be generated again. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a gas purifying means as described above.

An adsorption type oxygen enricher uses an adsorbent that has a difference in adsorption capacity for oxygen and nitrogen to obtain 1 q of oxygen-enriched air from the air.At this time, water is also separated and the enriched air is It is necessary to add a humidifier when the air is dried. Also, when obtaining oxygen gas from an oxygen cylinder or the like, it is usually preferable to use a humidifier. In this way, any type of humidifier can be used,
Practical is a type in which air bubbles 2 are generated by filling water 4 as shown in 3 in FIG. The relative humidity in the oxygen-enriched gas coming out of the humidifier is preferably about 70% or more, and the humidity can be controlled by adjusting the surface area of the air bubbles, and more specifically by filling the humidifier with water. It is effective to control the number of bubbles that rise and burst by adjusting the cross-sectional area of the section. The oxygen-enriched gas having a humidity of about 70% or more, particularly 80% or more, obtained in this way is likely to be cooled and form water droplets in the conduit means extending downstream from the humidifier, as described above, and the conduit means It is necessary to provide the above-mentioned gas purification means inside the tank.

Further, as the conduit means in the oxygen-enriched gas supply device of the present invention, a tube made of a soft plastic material is preferable, such as soft vinyl chloride.

silicone rubber, polyolefin, polystyrene.

Examples include those made of Teflon and the like. Among these,
It is preferable to use a material that produces less off-odor.
Examples include those made of polyolefin and polystyrene. Even when a tube made of such a material is used, if the gas purification means of the present invention is not used, the patient using the tube may experience an unpleasant odor.

Further, the supply means for supplying oxygen-enriched gas in the device of the present invention may be of any type, and specific examples thereof include a cannula type in which the tip of a thin tube is inserted into a cavity, and a mask type. can be given. As for the flow rate of the oxygen-enriched gas supplied from such a supply means, when an oxygen enricher is used as the generation means, the lower limit is 0.1 fi/min, more preferably o, 5 p/min,
In particular, it is preferably 1μ/min, and the upper limit is 10U/min, more preferably 31/min, especially 61/min.
It is desirable that it be min.

The invention? ! A specific structure of a membrane type oxygen enricher, which is one of the preferred embodiments of the diatomic enricher, will be illustrated below.

That is, the enricher is a module consisting of a fan means for taking in atmospheric air, a number of membrane cells configured so that the atmospheric air passes through the surface of a gas selectively permeable membrane, and oxygen-enriched air permeates therethrough; A vacuum pump means for maintaining the back side of the membrane in the membrane cell at a pressure lower than that of the atmosphere and taking out the oxygen-enriched air from the module, and an enrichment means for making the taken-out oxygen-enriched air flow to the outlet of the enricher. Examples include those equipped with internal conduit means. Further, as a specific example of the adsorption type oxygen enricher which is one of the other preferred embodiments of the present invention, an adsorbent bed filled with an adsorbent that selectively adsorbs nitrogen gas is placed at 2M, and the adsorbent bed is pressurized. A compressor means for inflowing the atmosphere.

and an enrichment conduit means for extracting oxygen-enriched air from the adsorbent bed and distributing it to the outlet, the two adsorption beds alternately repeating the pressurization-depressurization-regeneration cycle. An example is an enricher that is operated as follows. In any of the enrichers, it is desirable that the conduit means for passing the oxygen-enriched air to the outlet of the enricher include means for adjusting the flow rate of the supplied oxygen-enriched air.

Next, the present invention will be explained in more detail with reference to Examples.

Example 1 Humidified oxygen-enriched air of 2ρ7ml was taken out using an adsorption type oxygen enricher (Hisanso manufactured by Teijin) with a humidifier (inner diameter of water filling part: 55sφ), and the oxygen enriched air was extracted as shown in Table 1. Table 1 shows the results of testing the humidity and presence of water droplets after passing through a Teflon filter with an average pore size of

Table 1 (blank below) <Effects of the Invention> The present invention provides a simple and lightweight gas purifier capable of removing water droplets and odor from a gas containing them, and an oxygen purifier equipped with a specific gas purifier. An enriched gas supply device is provided. In particular, this device has the advantage that the oxygen-enriched air supplied therefrom is clean, free of water droplets and odor, and does not cause discomfort to the person using it.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates an embodiment of an oxygen-enriched gas supply apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view illustrating an embodiment of the gas purifier according to the present invention.

Claims (7)

[Claims] (1) A gas purifier in which a filter and an adsorbent layer are arranged in series in a container equipped with a gas inlet and outlet. (2) a means for generating an oxygen-enriched gas, a supply means for providing the oxygen-enriched gas located at a location away from the generation means, and guiding the oxygen-enriched gas from the generation means to the supply means; What is claimed is: 1. An oxygen-enriched gas supply device comprising a conduit means for the purpose of cleaning, the conduit means having a gas purification means provided with a filter and/or an adsorbent in the middle of the conduit means. (3) The device according to claim 2, wherein the filter has an average pore diameter of 0.8 μm or less. (4) The device according to claim 2, wherein at least one surface of the filter is water repellent. (5) The device according to claim 2, wherein the gas purifying means comprises a filter and an adsorbent arranged in series and housed in the same container. (6) The means for generating the oxygen-enriched gas is a membrane-type oxygen enricher,
The apparatus according to claim 2, which uses at least one of an adsorption type oxygen enricher and an oxygen cylinder. (7) The device according to claim 6, wherein the generating means is equipped with a humidifier.